In an effort to try to combat the highest COVID-19 incidence rate in the state, law enforcement officials in Pitkin County said Thursday they will introduce a stick to what has previously been a carrot-based approach to public health order enforcement. Police in Aspen, Snowmass Village and Basalt, as well as county sheriff’s deputies, will now write misdemeanor tickets for egregious and blatant violations of local public health orders, such as large parties, law enforcement officials said. “There’s some value in issuing a ticket on scene,” Aspen Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn said Thursday. “Sending a letter a week later that says ‘Don’t do it again,’ is not as clear as a ticket stuck in a hand the night it happens.”